personalized shirts: Aiken County steps up its courtroom dress code

Associated Press
AIKEN, S.C. - Aiken County courthouse officials are adopting a dress code after growing tired of the public's attitude and casual appearance.

"We are trying to regulate the dress code for everybody," court bailiff Mert Holtzhouser said. "This is a court of law - not a peep show."

On the list of "don'ts" are tank tops, white T-shirts, shorts, skorts, miniskirts, baggy pants and bulky shirts. Aside from looking "sloppy," those last two items can even lead to security concerns, Holtzhouser said.

"You never know what someone has got hidden inside those pants or that personalized shirt," he said.

It's common practice for bailiffs to deny people access to the courtroom or ask them to leave if they are dressed inappropriately, and all jurors are sent a letter ahead of time stating what clothing they should not wear to court.

"They just don't understand that they can't come into court that way," Holtzhouser said. "They say, 'Well, you can't tell me what to wear.' That's true, but when they come into the courtroom they need to be dressed to our code."

Judges and other courthouse officials are fed up with that attitude, which Holtzhouser says indicates a lack of self-respect.

"When people dress like that, they are disrespecting themselves," he said. "It just doesn't look serious, and people aren't going to take them seriously."


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Information from: Aiken Standard, http://www.aikenstandard.com